are reflecting on how little they have done, how little they have accomplished, something goes into effect from a previous congress that did actually do something. maybe the calm act passed a couple of years ago but it is going into effect now. it is making headlines now reminding us that congress is supposed to do even basic stuff that improves our lives. which maybe should be both an inspiration as well as a satisfying calming effect on your ink. best new thing in the world today. that does it for us tonight. right now on "first look," the cliff is getting closer and tempers are flaring along with public opinion. we're live where the inquiry into the nurse's death wrapped up. plus, bizarre details surrounding a murder plot with justin bieber as the target. millions of relief dollars

raised in the greatest collection of rock 'n' rollers and major personalities all in one place. good morning to you. with just 19 days left until america goes off that fiscal cliff, tensions are rising. house speaker john boehner is warning his fellow republicans not to make any christmas plans and tea party conservatives are in no mood to negotiate on tax hikes. >> i tell them come to me after you've gotten rid of all the spending. come to me when you get rid of the $3 million you spent last year to watch monkeys on methamphetamine. come to me after you pay for the money you spent on watching a robotic squirrel. >> tracie potts is live with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. no movement to report in the fiscal cliff. we can tell that you across the country mayors and governors are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact back home.

there's growing angst on capitol hill over the fiscal cliff. >> figure it out. >> it's really time to get serious. >> reporter: mayors are getting nervous. >> congress needs to act immediately. >> reporter: and the public is worried. in our new nbc/"wall street journal" poll, 70% of democrats and 59% of republicans urge compromise. the country is evenly split over whether that will happen. republicans rejected president obama's latest plan to accept less tax revenue and sent the exact same offer back to the white house with no changes. >> i don't believe that we've heard anything from the leadership that suggests they have moved off their position. >> i remain the most optimistic person in this town. but we've got some serious differences. >> reporter: federal reserve chair ben bernanke warns gridlock is already affecting the economy. >> why is it that consumer confidence dropped so sharply this week? why is it that small business confidence dropped so sharply?

why are the markets volatile. >> reporter: now this is interesting. we're looking this morning at a new analysis from the nga, the national governor's association. they say on average states will lose about 7% of their federal grants if we go over the cliff. but that some states will actually bring in more tax revenue to compensate. other states will bring in less. >> that is interesting. all right. thanks so much. syria is reportedly escalating the conflict with opposition forces by firing scud missiles at rebels. u.s. officials say more than half dozen scud missiles were fired into northern syria and areas held about it rebels have suffered severe damage recently. there's no evidence that the missiles contain chemical weapons, though. meanwhile, the president of ecuador denied yesterday that syrian leader assad has requested asylum there. john mcafee is back on u.s. soil after being deported from guatemala on immigration

violations. the anti-virus millionaire is miami. they are not involves in the belize investigation into the death of mcafee's neighbor. asked if he was concerned about extradition, mcafee responded. >> i'm not worried at all. if i'm in front of a court, there is nothing in the world they will do to send me back. they have no evidence. they're obviously trumped up charges. this is the only attempt they charged me. >> mcafee is currently free in the u.s. he remains a person of interest and the belize police would still like to talk to them. there are new details this morning about cause of death of the london nurse who was caught up in that radio station's prank phone call while caring for kate the duchess of cambridge. we have a reporter in london with more. good morning. >> good morning, lynn. that inquest opened this morning. it was brief. the coroner confirmed that nurse involved in the royal call was found hanging by the neck in a room. here are the details.

she was found hanging by a scarf in the wardrobe in her room. there were injuries to her wrists. there were three notes found in her handwriting close to her body. there's been to established definite cause of death. the death is still registered as unexplained. they're awaiting toxicology tests. her husband id'd her body. family and friends are going through e-mails and also talking to staff at radio station and looking at her text messages. that inquest adjourned and will reopen in the new year. >> thank you so much. superstars raised money last night for relief of sandy victims at the 121212 concert. it was just as epic as promised. new jersey's bruce springsteen opened the performances. governor chris christie was right there on hand along with bon jovi, billy crystal, brian williams and the rolling stones. >> i think politicians and all

of us can learn something from governor chris christie and not just the best place to hoard twinkies. the governor threw politics aside and mitt romney and actually did something for the people of his state. >> well the six-hour show brought in more than $30 million from ticket sales alone and producers say up toed two billion would experience it live worldwide. all the proceeds are going to help sandy victims in new york, new jersey, and connecticut. all right. now here's your first look at this morning's dish of "scrambled politics." barbara waltered asked chris christie a question you may have had on your mind. >> there are people who say that you couldn't be president because you're so heavy. what do you say to them? >> that's ridiculous. i mean that's ridiculous. >> well, an unpaid 18-year-old

intern for bob menendez is arrested after it was learned that intern was an undocumented immigrant and registered sex offender. immigration officials deny reports of the arrest were delayed until after election day. for the first time ever, our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finds that a majority of americans favor same-sex marriage. the mitt romney campaign ad about jeep manufacturing being outsourced to china has been declared the lie of the year. and finally, new mexico senator jeff bigaman went on the colbert report and you can say stretched the truth a bit. >> we know the house of representative is a bunch of losers compared you to guys. do you have the power as a senator to just walk up to anyone in congress and give them a wedgy? >> yeah, i guess i do. >> all right. that's worth it right there. >> okay. and that's your morning dish of

"scrambled politics." and now for a look at your national weather, let's turn to dylan drier. she has your weather channel forecast. he didn't know how to respond to that. okay, it's worth it. >> good old fashioned wedgy. growing up with two older brothers, i had a few myself. >> poor dylan. >> yeah. we are looking at a good amount of rain across the east coast of the carolinas. don't worry. it's short lived. it's already moving off shore. so the rain that we're seeing across hateras and most of eastern north carolina, it is going to wind down pretty quickly. we also have some snow still falling back across nevada where we do have winter storm warnings in effect. the highest elevations above 7,000 feet koend up picking up another foot of snow. but elsewhere, high pressure is in control. and there's really not a lot going on. until we get into next week. that's when the pattern is going to change and get more active. in the meantime from virginia

beach right across eastern north carolina and a few lingering showers across south carolina, that's all we're seeing across the east coast. now i'm sure you've heard rumors of a storm for next week. it looks like we could see a weak disturbance sunday into monday, perhaps a few rain and snow showers. but for the bigger event tuesday into wednesday, it does look like this storm is going to track a little closer to land, meaning it would be a mostly rain event unless you're in central and northern new england. but if this storm tracks further to the east, there is a chance we could see more snow out of this. that again isn't until tuesday and wednesday. something we'll keep an eye on as we go throughout weekend. >> thanks so much. coming up, jerry brown fights on. the fed promises to keep interest rates low. and hillary clinton getting grilled. plus, angry protesters clashing with police over human trafficking. we'll have details ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again.

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north korea's launch of a satellite was watched in the

control room of the satellite center outside the capital. the u.n. says the launch is a clear violation and officials sold nbc news that object appears to be tumbling out of control in orbit. jacob tyler roberts has been identified as the mass gunman who fired randomly at holiday shoppers in oregon mall killing two people and then himself. a 15-year-old girl is in serious condition after being shot in the chest. police still don't have a motive for the shooting. secretary of state hillary clinton will testify before congress on december 20th about the report on the deadly attack on september 11th against the u.s. diplomatic mission in benghazi, libya, in which four americans died. california governor jerry brown is being treated for early stage prostate cancer and is maintaining a full schedule while undergoing radiation. in argentina, violent protesters as demonstrators threw rocks and other objects at police who responded with pepper spray. the protesters were angry

because judges found 13 defendants not guilty in a human trafficking case. and in ukraine, there were fights outside of parliament as activists and lawmakers attacked a fence around the building and then inside fist fights as law makers from two opposing parties started arguing. all right. heading over to wall street where the dow opens the day at 13,245 after losing three points yesterday. the s&p 500 was up a fraction. the nasdaq fell eight. overseas, the nikkei climbed 161 points. but in hong kong, the hang seng dropped 57. >> it was aggressive action by the fed that offset the fiscal fears for now. investors welcomed news of the central bank's next round of monetary stimulus and interest rates will remain low until unemployment drops below 6.5%. incidentally, unemployment hasn't been at that level since october 2008. a 14-year high at the time. according to reality track,

banks foreclosed on 3% fewer homes last month than they did in october. that is a 19% improvement over november 2011. later this morning, strong monthly auto sales and the early weeks of holiday shopping should give a boost to november retail sales. in october, carmakers had their best month in five years. aaa predicts one in four americans will hit roads and skies this holiday season. more than 93 million of us will travel 50 miles or more from home during the final weeks in 2012. that's up 1.5% from last year. the wait is over. nearly three months after google maps mobile app was kicked off the iphone in favor of apple's own mapping software, a downloadable version of google maps is now available on your iphone. all right. so as we know here, anything can happen on live tv. but that's never happened to us. for this economist, he learned

the hard way while listening to melissa lee yesterday when a piece of improvised set came crashing down on him. he was a good sport about it. he was surprised but fortunately not hurt. as of today, blaring loud tv commercials should be a thing of the past. a new law regulating ad volume that was adopted in 2011 goes into effect today. coming up, the student lockdown at cal fullerton was lifted earlier this morning. a mom spots her son on the news involved in a crime and then turns him in. plus, a gruesome murder plot against justin bieber is foiled by police. these details are just incredible. bizarre. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat.

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cal state fullerton is no longer on lockdown. this was a situation that began with a police chase on the university campus. officers ran down three of the five robbery suspects involved in an attempted jewelry store heist. cal state fullerton advised students to stay indoors. police are still hunting for two men. a collision on a detroit highway caused one big rig to go up in flames. the semis. erupted after crashing into a median. a gruesome and bizarre story for you. it involves a texas father who made a chilling 911 call after

carving a large pentagram into his 6-year-old son's back. >> i inxrikd a pentagram on my son. >> on your son? >> yes, ma'am. >> okay. why did you do that? >> because it's a holy day. >> just sick. the date 12/12/12 is what drove the man to commit the heinous act. he's been charged with aggravated assault. residents are still crying foul over that state's new right to work legislation. protesters put tape over their mouths to symbolize how the new law silences the middle class and takes $1500 out of their pockets. and finally, a missouri mom hauled her son down to the police station after spotting him in a video of a restaurant holdup. she showed workers at the fast food eatery a picture of him before she turned him in. police are now looking for two other accomplices. all right, a little sports for you. some tight games and fantastic finishes in the nba. let's start with the celtics and mavs. in double overtime, rondo drove

the lane in the final minute and the celtics pull out a thriller over dallas. 117-115. in miami, golden state rookie green was left open right up to the basket. he made the lay-up with less than one second left on the clock. warriors beat the heat the 97-95. >> the suns put up a little scoop shot that went right in there for him. and phoenix upset memphis 82-80. houston, the home team got a big boost just before the half with this amazing 50-foot long buzzer beater from beyond half court. it was by toney douglas. nothing but net. the rockets went on to beat washington 99-93. and this is pretty cool. south africa's olympic sprinter blade runner oscar pristoras won

a race against a horse. he crossed the line with just a second to spare. just an amazing race there. now for another look at your weather, here is nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. good morning once again. >> that race is unbelievable. >> i know. we try to bring you the best here, dylan. >> wow. >> unbelievable is what we're going for. >> right. that is awesome to see. >> we are going to see some weather that's pretty quiet today. pretty awesome for some of you. we're looking at temperatures right now a little chilly in the 30s and 40s. new orleans was under a freeze warning earlier this morning because of temperatures close to freezing. so that's why we have the freeze warnings posted. obviously affects the growing season. we're looking at a good amount of sunshine with high pressure in control across most of the country. the rain we're starting off with down in the carolinas right across the coastline is going to move eastward through the day. then as we go into friday, finishing off the work week. a couple showers and thunderstorms in kansas city right down into texas. but the east coast is looking quiet. a little cool. seasonably so. temperatures topping out in the

40s and 50s. >> not bad. thanks so much. just ahead sh prince william meets the hobbitt. details behind the justin bieber murder plot and a family welcomes a baby girl at 12:12 p.m. on, you guessed it, 12/12/12. but that's not all. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice.

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i'm not worried about north kor korea. we know when the world ends, it will be an asteroid that does us in on that score. we're totally safe. >> two asteroids buzzed earth. one of them passing inside the moon's orbit.

the 120-foot wide rock came within 140,000 miles of our planet. this is the scary part. no one knew this asteroid was coming until a couple days ago. kind of snuck up on us. >> snuck up on us? it's not a puma. it's a jind giant [ beep ] rock hurling through space. can we not see anything coming our way. >> prince william turned the london premier of the hobbitt into a royal affair with whif kate middleton opting to stay home. prince william was greeted by peter jackson and the entire cast of "the hobbitt." the film star said williams attendance was a huge compliment to the film. >> a bizarre murder plot this targeting justin bieber. it has been uncovered by police in florida, two men are suspected of being part of a plot hatched by a third man serving two life sentences in prison. now this third man was allegedly

obsessed with bieber, even has a tattoo of the pop star on his leg which ended up itself is bizarre. the plan to murder and castrate bieber is what was said. both suspects was arrested and one found with weapons and pruning shears on him. disgusting. sarah palin's wife is divorcing his wife of 18 months. he is the eldest of the five palin siblings. and a poll was asked, what is your favorite christmas movie. the top results, "it's a wonderful life." i'm on that band ago on. 40%, "home alone," and "christmas vacation" with 14%. any they're not thinking of? >> my favorite is "love actually." the song gets stuck in my head. i haven't watched it yet this season. i'm ready to. >> along with "it's a wonderful life" which dylan has not seen.

i'm getting you that dvd. >> i'm getting called out on twitter, too. >> you are? >> all right. in long island, a family is being celebrated because they have a little girl and the birthday only comes once every 100 years. so amy and brian sullivan's new bundle of join was born at 12:12 p.m. on 12/12/12. so that's impressive in and of itself, right? well, the brother was born on 1/2/12. i'm lynn berry. "way too early" is next. >> bruce springsteen, bon jovi, a tip of the iceberg last night. rent